Interview with Spencer Grammer of ABC Family's Greek

Greek's Spencer Grammer Talks About Senior Year

Big things are brewing on ABC Family's Greek, which returns with new episodes tonight. (I know, because we needed another show on Mondays.) We return to Cypress-Rhodes at the start of Casey Cartwright's senior year, after her defeat in the ZBZ election and her big Summer internship. Recently, Spencer Grammer hopped on the phone to chat about Casey's career crisis, this season's guest appearances, and boy drama. Read on for highlights:

The last season ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, and when we come back, it's the next school year. How quickly will we find out what happened right at the end of that cliffhanger?
You'll find out at the beginning of the episode — as soon as Casey gets back to Cypress-Rhodes — what's going on. And then of course there's always a twist — it's Greek. So be ready for a surprise.

And how much do we see of what happened over the Summer?
There's a little piece of it. Right at the beginning, you see the tail end of that. You start to realize what Casey's summer was really like, and it sort of changes her perspective on what this semester's going to hold for her.

Yeah, we saw a little of Casey's career drama and questions about her future in the last batch of episodes. Now that she's a senior, will that be a big part of her story?
I think that it makes Casey's year just a little bit more serious She realizes since she isn't president of the sorority like she originally thought that she was, that she is gonna buckle down and get a little bit more serious about her career and school. But whenever you have plans like that, something always comes along to change them.

Casey's been the ZBZ top dog for so long. Is it tough for her to step back and support Ashleigh now that she's president?
I think it's a little strange at first, of course, but ultimately, friendship always wins in the end. . . . I think it's a big growth thing for Casey as a character to see her change and realize that she can be supportive in a friendship even though she might not have gotten everything that she wanted.

I was actually watching some of season one a little while ago and realizing how much it seems like Casey really has changed. Season one, she didn't tell anyone she had a brother, she was maybe more questioning how secure her status on campus. How do you think she's grown?
I really think she's become more accepting — of her brother especially, and just generally being more accepting of people and realizing everyone can make mistakes and things can always change. She's learning a lot. I think there's a lot of growth that happens between her and Rebecca in the second season, so you see that relationship change also. Those are big steps to take, when you start to be able to forgive people and move forward with your life.

Is there something that's happened to Casey so far that's surprised you?
Casey sometimes lies about stuff, and that's always uncomfortable for me. Maybe by not mentioning things — but that's always a weird thing for me because I feel like honesty is such an important part of having integrity, so that's always a struggle when my character does that. She does it for selfish reasons and ultimately you have to see her grow and fail. . . . In losing the presidency, she definitely made it more about Frannie and putting her down than actually what she could do for the sorority. You have to deal with the consequences of your actions, and I think it was a big stepping stone for Casey.

Presumably we'll get some new boy twists coming up this season . . .
Of course! We always get those. We have some great guest stars too. Jesse McCartney is awesome, he's so much fun, and we also have Janeane Garofalo.

And do we see more Max?
Yes, you do. Max and Casey are still together after the summer.

And tell me about Jesse McCartney's character.
He comes on the show as a new rushee. He's like the new, hot kid on campus that all of the fraternities are trying to get to rush their fraternity.

It kind of sounds like the frat version of the Rebecca story from the beginning of Greek.
Exactly — that's exactly what it's like. And what's great about this season is you get to see Rusty being an active and his role in the fraternity and how he's trying to prove himself to everyone in the fraternity — and the same goes for Rebecca.

Are there any people on the show you get really excited to work with?
I work with almost everybody on the show, I've worked with them at least once, but I would love to do more scenes with Paul James [Calvin]. He's so much fun. I've done, like, one episode where we had maybe a couple of scenes where we talked toward each other a little bit. . . . I would love to have more scenes with him, and I would love to start working with Jake [McDorman, who plays Evan] again. I miss working with him. We don't have a lot of scenes this season, but maybe in the next cycle.

Without being too spoilery, are there particular big things that you would recommend we pay special attention to when the show comes back?
There's a lesbian storyline this season that's kind of hot and interesting, so that should be fun for everyone. It's not, like, brooding — it's the way our show is, making light of things that are controversial. I totally am excited about it.

Now that you're seniors, how much of senior year will this batch of episodes cover?
I think this goes to midway through the Fall.

So you can be a senior for a while.
Yeah, I'll be a senior for a while. It's gonna be OK.

Thanks so much for this interview! I absolutely love this show and will be watching the premiere over anything else (and that is saying a lot because I adore HIMYM and Gossip Girl!). I'm really excited you are giving it some buzz, pun intended!Lesbian storyline? Hmmm that's interesting. I hope they don't try to turn one of the lead's gay all of a sudden (see Callie, Grey's). Also, I'm comfortable with Frannie and Rebecca remaining the villians rather than Rebecca and Casey becoming friends. I just don't think I could ever like either of those two. Love to hate is how they are supposed to be!One thing I really think is smart is that the writer's don't really care about the episodes airing is what appears to be real time. Many shows would do first season as Junior Year and second season had to be Senior Year. But this way they have extended two years of college into multiple seasons. It's way better this way.

Thanks so much for this interview! I absolutely love this show and will be watching the premiere over anything else (and that is saying a lot because I adore HIMYM and Gossip Girl!). I'm really excited you are giving it some buzz, pun intended!
Lesbian storyline? Hmmm that's interesting. I hope they don't try to turn one of the lead's gay all of a sudden (see Callie, Grey's). Also, I'm comfortable with Frannie and Rebecca remaining the villians rather than Rebecca and Casey becoming friends. I just don't think I could ever like either of those two. Love to hate is how they are supposed to be!
One thing I really think is smart is that the writer's don't really care about the episodes airing is what appears to be real time. Many shows would do first season as Junior Year and second season had to be Senior Year. But this way they have extended two years of college into multiple seasons. It's way better this way.